Kamlesh Pattni: Inside the nine lives of Africa's most notorious golden boy

Since he was first thrust into the limelight, to be publicly prosecuted over his role in the 1990s Goldenberg scandal, the Kamlesh Pattni saga has continued to unfold radioactively, mesmerising the masses and painting him into the ultimate villain in a menacingly cruel scheme of deceit, wile craftsmanship and cunning guile.

A rotund Kenyan man of Indian origin, who liked to wear crafty smiles and loads of gilded jewellery, and who also boasted a full head of bouffant hair, Pattni quickly became the unlikely rockstar of President Mwai Kibaki's purge on corruption, as he entranced Kenyans with his witticism, cheeky gambits and inscrutable aura.

Despite being fully aware of the reason he was being paraded on national television every day, Pattni still carried himself pompously - he would waltz into the courtroom while flashing that unmistakable smile, winking his way through the press, throwing around his beguiling charm and leaving the courtroom in a total collapse of his brassy charisma.

He didn't treat the occasion with the seriousness or even superficial solemnity it deserved, despite having calculatedly siphoned billions from the Kenyan economy and almost driven the nation to its knees, economically.

Every day, while appearing before the Justice Samuel Bosire-led commission, alongside some of his co-accused, Pattni made sure to make the day about himself; either by his quirky quips or cartoonish countenance, Pattni would sweep the headlines clean with his intrinsic knack at confounding the viewer.

This is a tiny character who, at just 25, was accused of cheating Kenya out of $600 million (Ksh.78 billion by current rates) with an intricate web of sleek conspirators with whom he purportedly pirouetted into unimaginable wealth.

Having closely studied then-Finance Minister Prof. George Saitoti's June 7, 1990, budget speech, which outlined ambitious proposals aimed at promoting Kenya's economic growth, whose key strategies included the promotion of "industrial and other non-traditional exports," Pattni knew just what to do - and how to quickly, and ruthlessly, amass a fortune.

Aided by some powerful figures in the then-Moi government, who included James Kanyotu, head of the omnipotent Special Branch, Pattni embarked on a large-scale gold export scheme - at the very core of the business, a lot of cross-country smuggling, duplicity, widespread sleaze and malfeasance took place.

A ruthless felon, Pattni would hop from Treasury to the Central Bank, present sheafs of manipulated receipts, cheat his way through the State House corridors, double-cross high ranking government officials, outwit banking honchos and seamlessly wire billions to himself - all at the expense of a dirt-poor nation reeling with sanctions and a looming general election.

After years of hogging the headlines, an arduous investigation, and sneering through his clear sunglasses, Pattni would be controversially cleared of all charges; a judicial decision which, more than anything, emboldened the master manipulator, permanently engraving the Kamlesh Pattni insignia on Kenyans' minds.

Bolstered by the hypnosis he had just cast over the Kenyan populace, Pattni would go on to get 'born again', establish a church and install himself as the head preacher - ever the suave operator, he would baptise himself 'Brother Paul', possibly hoping to tap into the mass religious hysteria prevalent in the Kenyan Christian community.

After the church thing failed to take off - or make sense, Pattni would retreat to the backwaters, perhaps to summon a new ingenuity to propel himself to greater heights, while at the same time using the same Machiavellian tricks which crystallised his notoriety in the first place.

Late last year, Kenyans would, once again, wake up to yet another classic Pattni conspiracy after the Office of Public Affairs, a department under the U.S. Treasury, placed sanctions on Pattni, his brother-in-law Mukesh Mansukhlal Vaya and 26 other individuals and companies in relation to a Goldenberg-type scam he had orchestrated in Zimbabwe.

At the same time, the U.K.'s National Crime Agency would also announce sanctions against the serial fraudster after he was found guilty of using his company Suzan General Trading to defraud the Zimbabwe government, under a programme intended to, you guessed it, boost mineral exports.

The revelation, which was part of Al Jazeera’s ‘Gold Mafia,’ a four-part series investigating some of Southern Africa’s largest gold smugglers and money launderers, showed that Pattni was running a gold smuggling syndicate in Zimbabwe, from his base of operations in Dubai.

Undercover Al Jazeera reporters pretending to be Chinese criminals would be offered several options by Pattni to launder more than $100 million (Ksh.13 billion). 

"He would do this by effectively turning the dirty money into gold that is exported from Zimbabwe to Dubai, where he owns several gold-trading companies," Al Jazeera reported. 

During the secretly recorded conversations with Al Jazeera reporters, Pattni claimed that the country’s president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, was aware of his gold-smuggling and money laundering operations.

When asked about Mnangagwa’s involvement, Pattni said: “He knows, of course, yes. But he can’t, he will not talk too openly. When you work, you must always have the king with you, the president.”

Despite the sweeping U.S./U.K. sanctions, and the resulting negative publicity the Al Jazeera exposé brought him, the ever-conniving Pattni still managed to deviously warm his way into the heart of the Niger junta government in an attempt to 'establish a gold refinery and gemstone processing hub' in the capital, Niamey.

The agreement, signed on Wednesday, April 23, between Niger and Dubai-based Suvarna Royal Gold Trading LLC, where Pattni serves as CEO, is supposed to pave the way for the creation of Royal Gold Niger SA — a new company that will install a gold refinery, jewellery manufacturing plant, and gemstone polishing centre.

An excited Commissioner-Colonel Abarchi Ousmane, Niger’s Minister of Mines, would proudly - maybe ignorantl y- remark: "From now on, Niger’s gold will not only be extracted; it will be transformed here, for the benefit of Nigeriens. Thanks to this partnership, we are not just signing an agreement — we are making history!"

Pattni quietly seeps into African governments armed with a brazen smile, a sly tongue and a pot of poisoned chalice, has, once again, squeezed himself a seat at yet another government - and as usual, not to change the fortunes of the poor Nigerien people but to siphon as much as he can, swindle as many as he can and bamboozle as widely as he can.

A gluttonous goblin who knows no limits and harbours no restraint, Pattni appears unstoppable in his notorious march into Pan-African dominance; as long as mineral deposits exist, Pattni's ghost shall hover.

In their naive dalliance with Pattni, Niger may find themselves circling the same cul-de-sac of deciet and treachery the gold merchant has mastered. Unfortunately, this is Pattni's dance floor, and the music doesn't stop until he signals the DJ.